is a priority and i'm doing everything i can to enhance it. our lines of the philippines took an important step forward this dream were recently upheld the enhanced defense cooperation agreement or edca which will provide benefits. i'm also excited that the relationship is in a or i will visit as the world largest democracies we are uniquely poised to help her greater security impressed verity to the entire region. two policies now coincided. the united states rebound pain in india implements its policy. last october's exercise between india, japan and the united

states shows security interconnectedness of the indian ocean, asia and the pacific ocean. i rely heavily on australia not only for its advanced military capabilities across all domains, but for australians leadership in operations around the world. these examples clearly demonstrate united states is this policy choice. it's also why i believe our strategic rebound has taken hold. given for the five strategic problems identified by secretary carter, china, north korea, russia and isil are in our region. there is more to do and we must not lose momentum so i asked the committee, the investment of capabilities and weapons systems increase that go fast or, further and more survival. they continued the u.s. relics are capabilities solaris congress to repeal it

sequestration. i'd like to thank this committee for your enduring support to pacom and the men and women in uniform and civilian teammates and families they thank you good i look forward to your questions. >> chairman mccain, ranking member read, i am honored to testify today is the commander of the united nations command combined forces command and united states forces korea. i let that to add to admiral harris is comment we wish senator mccaskill a speedy recovery as well. on behalf of the american ultras and the sailors and airmen, marines serving in the republic of korea, thank you for your support. admiral harris coming thank you for your vision and professional support of the entire team. i prepared a brief opening remark and i ask my written statement be entered into the record. since my last testimony, our

u.s. alliance has continued to focus on advancing combined capabilities. some advanced capabilities include the establishment of the u.s. brought combined division, the rotation of u.s. forces to the peninsula, the execution of the training exercises and steady progress on a $10.7 billion land to relocate u.s. forces in korea. furthermore, republic of korea has improved capabilities with recent establishment at the korean air missile defense system and the allied korea joint command and control system. the republicans also invested and monitored equipment with the purchase of the 35 joint strike fighter global hawk patriot advanced capability missile upgrades as well as age 64 apache helicopters. these alliance advances help counter the real and approximate north korean thread. north korea continues to connect

revocation resources, large conventional force in the greater significant, north korea continues to aggressively develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and direct violation of u.n. security council resolutions has demonstrated with the fourth nuclear test in its fifth launch in january and february. in regards to this direct, my top concern remains the potential for a north korean provocation to start a cycle of action and counteraction which could quickly escalate. similar to what we experienced this past august, one proud to report the alliance is shoulder to shoulder and he escalated the situation, a qaeda spiraled out of control and demonstrates why we must be ready to fight tonight on the pavement. to maintain the level of readiness, we will continue to focus on sustaining and strengthening and transforming the alliance with an emphasis on our command readiness in four critical areas.

first, isi remains my top readiness challenge. csc uss k. requires additional all weather capabilities as well as dependable moving target indicators support to maintain situational awareness and divide adequate decision space. sacking, it is critical for the alliance to establish a layered and interoperable ballistic missile defense. to advance this goal, we will soon begin bilateral consultations regarding feasibility of the republic of korea which would complement the patriot systems capabilities. or, we must maintain an adequate quantity to ensure all my supremacy in the early days with any conflict on the peninsula. this requirement is further amplified by the approaching mustard munitions due to the shelflife expiration and the pending ban. fourth, we must focus on command

control communications, computers and intelligence are what we call c-4 i. both the united states and the republic of korea investing in new equipment will comprise reliable architecture. much more is required. in closing, would like to express how proud i am of service members, civilians and families serving in the republic korea to never lose sight of the fact we're on freedom's frontier. i would also like to recognize ambassador mark webber and harry harris in the u.s. iraq senior leaders for their enduring commitment to our commitment on the peninsula. thank you geodetic photo to your questions. >> i think the witnesses kind words about senator mccaskill to reflect the views of all of us in wishing her well and is speeding recovery. general scaparrotti come you have the benefit of now four years as their base as commander of forces in korea. have you ever seen tension

decide? >> no, sir. i have not. particularly in august detention and with north korea to semi-wars.us was the highest tension we had rain since 1994. >> so in your testimony, the situation could buy little out of control? >> yes, sir. mike and learn is in a provocation much like we had in august, both sides had a very high alert status and there could be a miscalculation and with responsive would be hard to control the situation. >> can you do support sap deployment? >> i do, sir. >> admiral harris, do you think it should be considered a notch in the second carrier based in japan?

>> senator, i want as much capability close to the fight as they can. there's some problems with that and the political pieces with japan, cost and all that. i will defer to the navy to sort that out. i would welcome as much forces forward as possible. >> event in your job for how long now? >> little over seven months. i took over last may. >> it you have had extensive it areas with the chinese issue for the issue of china? estimates are, i have good before this i was the pacific fleet commander. >> so is any of this escalation the latest hq nine surface ale missile systems surprised you? no, sir. it does not surprise me.

in my opinion, chen is militarized in the south china sea. you have to believe to think otherwise. >> was not inadequate one of the response is to regularly fly over international waters? >> yes, sir. as i testified! not as a one-off, but just a regular routine use of international heirs basin waters? >> yes, sir. i agree with you. >> so, the situation beast of the china continues to escalate in your view? yes,, sir. it does. i think china's ssm, service air missiles on woody allen rather have a new raiders over here.

the runway and the 10,000-foot runway over here and on fire cross rates in other places. these directions changing in my opinion the operational in it than the south china sea. >> the weapons they have developed good pose a direct threat to our carrier capabilities? >> yes, senator. they have developed their development could pose a threat to our carriers. i think our carriers are resilient and we have the capability to do what has to be done if it comes to that. >> i know you mentioned in your remarks that the u.s. philippine alliance is important. do you think it's important for us to lift restrictions.com

>> we should include a relationship with vietnam. it's a great strategic opportunity for us in the vietnamese people would welcome an opportunity to work closer with us as their security partner of choice. >> and that also means port visits? >> yes, we do port visit in via tom and i advocate for more. i believe i'll be able to do more this year. >> if you are asked for your type two or three priorities of what we should do and might of this compelling information concerning the militarization by china, what would you recommend? >> i believe we should maintain a credible combat power. we should maintain a network of like-minded allies and partners. we should continue to exercise our right on the high seas and the heirs base and we should encourage our allies to do the same. >> thank you, senator reid.

thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your testimony. admiral harris, you pointed out that there is a growing alliances at stake including india in the vietnam potentially some of this ironically might be a result of some of the contested actions of the chinese. is that accurate? >> yes, senator. it is accurate. i believe china's actions are provocative and increased tensions and caused nations in the region to look to the united states as a security partner choice away from china. >> do you feel we are fulfilling that role adequately, that we are engaging in cooperating and leading as we showed in the pacific? >> i believe we are. in india to southeast asia and

east asia in japan in korea. we are improving our treaty alliances, trilateral partnerships and in turn getting increased access throughout the region. singapore comes to mind. the edc a.i. spoke about in the philippines comes to mind. so this is an exciting time in terms of access and agreements in relationships with countries to route the pacific region. one of the consequence is in the island is that they have very accurate surface to surface missiles. give radars which would seem to pose even higher premium underwater operation by submarine or autonomous vehicles. is that your view as is becoming more important? >> it is. so i would say it's becoming a report because submarine warfare

has always been a part to the joint force. i did a submarine of original self platform and the capabilities that we have is a true asymmetric advantage over any other adversary or potential at syria on the planet and that is our capability in the undersea realm. >> thank you at them because they question to both of you here china and north korea is a very complicated relationship to the chinese i think not perhaps as much as the south korean united states a little bit nervous. yet they are the major funder in terms of the banking system, all of the ample trading, axle trading monies in and out of north korea, equipped and combat veteran. why interview have we not been able to convince the chinese to the teacher that they face and

that their efforts and our efforts together could be effective in preventing a potential catastrophe? >> sir, i wish i knew the answer to the question. i would say and pounding on what admiral scaparrotti said about that. i find it preposterous that china would try to wedge his south between south korea and the united states to defend american and korean on the peninsula. if they were truly concerned, if they were truly interested, i believe china would and should intervene with north korea and convince them to quiet their provocations. >> general scaparrotti. >> i agree with admiral harris. i think they state that they are concerned about stability on their border and i believe that

they place that value above the wrist they believe they are taking with kim jong noon. we certainly hope that they will reconsider that calculus because they certainly can have a greater influence in north korea given that 80% of their trade in a good deal of north korea's banking is what china. >> admiral harris, you've urged us all to repeal sequestration, which is the logical and obvious thing that must be done. this year, looking as your budget for this year, do you think you have adequate resources for the challenges that are significant that you face? >> senator, thanks to the congress i am in good shape in pacific command in fy 16 and the budget was 17 looks good for me. i am grateful for that. there is always more of course and i will just mention a couple areas of munitions, submarines.

my summary and requirement as the combatant commander solely because of numbers. isr come intelligence surveillance reconnaissance and long-range anti-surface missiles weapons, which is i'm which is then placed a notice in the f-117 budget. >> and i presume you would agree. >> yes, sir. i would agree. i ensure priority and treated to to -- pacom as well as dod. >> thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator and off. >> last week we appreciate very much the time you gave us in the house and senate members and you are very to spend time with us when we visited you there. since that time, we went -- we

had a personal visit with the minister of defense with our marines and then the third part, the the the singapore ministry of defense is the commander on the west bank as well as diego garcia. we went a lot of ways around going back to a visit with you, we thank you very much for that. just a minute ago when we were also very visiting with you, the third teen, saturday, we asked a question about the budget and you are not were not forecasting and he sure thought that that time in the fiscal year 17 projected pacom budget in the current threat. establish you restate it? are you concerned -- generally speaking, they are in pretty good shape with a hostile environment. we talked about that.

it is usually the follow-on forces, do you feel confident that they are being treated in a way that should be called upon that they've had adequate training and that they would need to make this happen? >> yes, senator. i am confident the forces are in a good position today. >> we don't hear that very often. i am glad to hear that. general scaparrotti, there are currently nine ongoing operations and exercises within pacom, all vital to our international interest. i will list what those list what those nine are. according the army budget overview, pacom's combine operations consist of 75,000 u.s. soldiers. how many of the strategic enablers are sustainable under the proposed army budget? have you looked at that?

>> yes, senator. we can't sustain the pace and operation we have for 16 and 17 in pacom. civic pathways have been helpful throughout the pacific. that is probably the one where we would adjust tempo or perhaps pays that there was budget pressure on the good i am pretty confident we can maintain the exercises and in particular those on the peninsula. >> specific pathways that benefit the many others? >> well, sir. it would affect others in the sense that pacific pathways is very important to partner development. it brings a lot of capability within the pacific, not only to the peninsula it out. >> the international standoff deepened early this month when north korea ignored repeated

warnings by the regional powers. did they pay any attention to the regional powers? we've been talking about this a long time. >> admiral harris, do you think when they have all these warnings by asked him by others that are out there, does that mean anything to north korea? >> i have to think the pressure that is wrong on via our alliance with south korea to take note of that. if they didn't take note of that, i'm not sure where we would eat. i believe they also listen to china, so i think the chinese influence on the north is waning compared to what it has been in the past. >> on the ninth of february, we had a hearing with james clapper and he expressed very much of a

concern with the acceleration taken place. a minute ago, you said we are probably in pretty good shape right now. that is what you said when we were there last saturday. since that time, you've got all of these and i will submit these three for the record that mr. chairman, you talked about "the wall street journal," but also the "washington post" and yesterday japan's minister that they view to china and the tensions that came out just a few hours ago. i would like to submit those of the record. >> you know, for the record, kind of explain at the time of our visit on saturday the things were under a level of control in terms of the budget can turn in the race versus allocated to

you, why there wouldn't be an insufficient denouncing these things happened that there last saturday visit. looking at it very honestly with the acceleration as to what those resources are, are they adequate for the record? >> thanks, senator. i believe for the record the pacom is adequately resource in the 16 and 17 budget. >> that is fine. i wanted you to elaborate on that for the record after the meeting is over. >> yes, sir. happy to do that. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for your service in this hearing. i'm concerned about cyberthreats for the region, in particular. how do you assess this threat and how are the source is vulnerable to them and what can we do to address them better? >> thank you, senator. cyberis the new frontier. we are extending a nervous

resources across the department in getting after cyber. and the pacific we set up an organization called cyberattack within pacific command and they look at the dod information systems to send, operation and offenses of cyberoperations. i have assigned to me at pacom cybermission teams and learning how to use those teams. again, this is new. but it is a very real threat not only to u.s. military forces, but to america in general in my opinion. >> senator, thank you for the question. as admiral harris said, this is a domain that we are learning that is very challenging and in particular the payment because north korea also has a very deliberate goal of increasing

their cybercapability. as you know, they have demonstrated accurate the sony attack in the united states and also in korea against thinking and media industry. so it is a great concern to me. we have increased our joint cybercenter capabilities over the past year. we continuously work at that. i've also now been deployed a cybermission team the network also with the team's unsupported by the teams in pacom. i would just make one other comment. it is important within the alliance that i am the other koreas cyberteams developed a much closer relationship because we do have a unique vulnerability in that we have systems that rocked the u.s. that support the alliance specifically century. we are working hard is an alliance to ensure we have a proper defense and a capability we require within the domain.

>> i also have comes in specifically about china. china is making significant progress in military modernization initiative. in fact, is currently testing the jay 20 competitors as 35. how effective is our current defense posture and regional partners deterring chinese expansion and in which areas are we lacking strategic tactical level and what do you think are the most effective way and are there any u.s. military capabilities of which is the china closing the gap? >> i will start, senator. i think in the capability realm, i asked for increased surface to surface but there's. you know, when i started flying back in the late 70s, we had the harpoon missile and that is

the thing that so we have today. we need to have an increased reach and speed that i've talked about before. i am grateful that the services responded to that request in the half-life 17 budget, there are at increased funding for programs to increase the lethality of service missiles. i think the secretary -- deputy secretary of defense recently spoke of the assam six missile and capability in the surface about oregon's surface target with a long-range anti-ship missiles which is air launched now is another great capability that we need to bring online fast and i am grateful for that. i have spoken also -- or i wrote also about the need for increasing divide and the rate

of high of at 35 joint strike fighters. i am pleased in the budget that is in there. i am glad about all of that. as i've mentioned before, we have a shortage. my summary requirement is not meant in pacom and i'm just one of many double tied it back. that is our asymmetric advantage over china and any other a scary and i think we have to keep after it. i think it is important in the long run to modernize our force for the future. to get your last question about what we will do, we have to have a strong defense backed up by an act of diplomacy and we need to use diplomacy to influence china towards an acceptable behavior in the international space.

>> senator, i would add and emphasize the last point. we plan for those possibilities. i'm sure they do as well. diplomacy and engagement with pacom and having these conversations is important that they understand our intent and medications if we should have a con like. >> senator ayotte. >> i want to thank you for your service to the country. admiral harris, thank you are visiting the shipyard. we're appreciative of that visit appeared to follow-up on what what i've heard you say in terms of the gap of our submarine fleet and the need you have taken on, what role for solid as the virginia class submarine play and the importance of supremacy under siege and how big is this gap? we asked the navy this morning about all the combatant command and the navy told us that only

62% of the request were attack submarine supporter being that right out. what is that like as well? >> gap is about 60%. exact numbers are caught by tonight be happy to have the discussion with you. we experience an attack submarine short in the pacific. i would maintain the pacific is the principal space where submarine are the most important war fighting capability we have good it is the best thing we have. i can't get enough of them and i can't get enough of them fast enough to >> this is an issue you've raised about the sequestration, the long term impact of our investment under attack submarine fleet, which is so critical and in an area where we

have very important supremacy under siege of the challenges we are facing. if we do not have the, we obviously can't address their security needs and our presence in the region of horribly important as anything else. would you agree with that you should mark >> idea. if you don't have presence coming better average. the reach comes from submarines and aircraft and the like. we need the new ss en in the 20th and we need the new long-range bomber as well. >> i also wanted to ask you about unmanned, on water vehicles than white youth we should be doing in terms of connecting research development and fielding advance unmanned vehicles it is that something would need to invest to focus on going forward? >> i think we must invest, senator and go forward with it.

not only in warfare and all of the things that you can provide regard, but also mine warfare ticket after this rap duo based. >> how are we doing on that compared to, for example, china or other countries? >> we are doing okay, but we need to do a lot more. >> thank you. i want to also ask general scaparrotti, as they've looked at the actions of the korea that have been discussed to date recently, obviously the underground nuclear test holistic missile launching, how do you assess what they are doing right out? there is always a international response, but it strikes me that kim jong boone is even less reliable obviously than his father. so where do you assess the

situation and what more we should be doing to respond? secondly, what is the next -- what is your prediction in terms of what we might see an extra in the north korean or is it just so unpredictable from your perspective? >> thank you, senator. first of all, it can jog un has been clear he intends to establish himself and wants to be accepted as a new layer nation with a valid capability to deliver those asset and of course he claims he can do that today. he wants to be recognized as such. he said that despite international sanctions that he will continue to develop this nuclear missile capabilities and despite our deterrence, he has continued to do so. so i think his calculus is that this point that those test the teachers conduct in january and

february, that they were within his risk tolerance, that he could conduct those and at some point in the future of the next reform at the beyond that, just as he has done in the cycle of provocation and relaxation of her time, which is a mayor norm. i do worry about his calculation being wrong at some point and that is when i stated that is what i worry most about his view of the world is a very isolated one. given the way that he agreed in terms of the brutal nature of his leadership, i am not sure he can a lot of good advice there at this critical at five from those around him. >> i think you're pretty hesitant when you are around him to give any advice. that's a problem. >> i think we will see increasing tension as they go into the training. in february and march. i think what we should do is to ensure that our alliance is strong, that we maintain our

deterrence activities that we have, particularly large exercises here. there is no doubt in my mind that he knows about capability and believes he can't defeat it. i think stronger sanctions are very important for the international community. >> we recently passed very strong legislation. that sets the stage for the sanctions. thank you. >> senator king. thank you, mr. chairman. general scaparrotti, your analysis is exact way. almost all words and histories turn for the vista elation and i think for that reason it is a part of your strategy should be very clear about what our capabilities are, what our red lines are in one little act so that there isn't a miscalculation or a misunderstanding for an underestimation of our capacity. would you agree? >> yes, sir. i would read.

>> admiral harris, what are this cute chick implications for the pacific of the chinese and thai access aerial deniers strategy? it seems to not force them fast to question the strategy of the carrier as the primary instrument, the development of the sand of cruise missiles by the chinese. this seems to me a moment and inflection in terms of what our strategy is to not bring. >> things, senator. we've predicted the demise of the carrier since i've been in the navy. we had the soviet and all of their capability and we question the survivability of the carrier then and the soviets went out and tried to build their road. and then they sold it to china

and china was using it and they are building their own now. if the carrier were really a relevant and i question why these competitors are trying to build their road at the rate they are building. i think a few a few strategies china imposes are serious and we have to seriously consider them. >> we need to think about the range of our weapons. >> that is one of the issues i spoke about earlier and i were a killer ship surface weapons. we are stuck by the chinese today. because of this committee and the congress we are going to be in good shape as we put money into those systems. i think again the south platform is a submarine and we will be able to win in any conflict i see when we apply the joint force to that.

and i'm comfortable with the carrier operating in those waters, but we have to consider it. we have to consider the threat. the chinese aqa deep threat is not even six feet tall. >> you mention the importance of diplomacy as part of the overall strategy. what part of that be the advisability of the u.s. treaty? a mac in my opinion senator, yes. god help us in dealing with some of these fuzzy claims in the south china sea. >> i believe the u.s. accession is a positive. >> i've looked at the map. we had a call from the south atlantic south american city. the name is nowhere near china. >> the gulf of mexico. >> not the goal for florida interestingly. yesterday there was a report of the fastest sea level rise and 20th centuries on a projection

that by the end of the century sea level could rise through the for fee. are you looking at strategic implications both in terms of our infrastructure that is on the coast, but also in bovine stability at areas within your command then the -- come the low-lying coastal cities? >> i look at it in a capability way because pacom is of course u.s. military forces that want to disasters caused by flooding or tornadoes or typhoons or whatever. so i've attended in that way. frankly i am not looking at the rise of the levels and its effect globally towards the end of the century. that is too far out for me. i worry about what is happening in the near term and what i can do about it and how i can be helpful. >> wouldn't be prudent to organize infrastructure to do a

tabletop on what would happen if sea level went up a couple of feet in san diego? >> yes, sir. it clearly was. >> finally, what is china's goal? what are their strategic goals? is it purely defensive, often said, do they want territory? what is behind the bill that they are engaged in? >> senator, i believe china seeks hegemony in asia. simple as that. >> regional control. >> yes, sir. >> thank you gentlemen for being here today. we certainly appreciate your service. admiral harris, 2014 the marine corps announced its expeditionary force 21 doctrine, which stated after over a decade of land-based combat operations, the marines were going to start returning to amphibious root.

i believe the success of this after his vital in order to respond to a rising china and assist allies in the region. are you comfortable at the navy marine corps forces posture to provide capabilities to meet your pay, requirements? >> senator, i am. i will be the first to say that 14 years of fighting in iraq and afghanistan landlords, you know, there are measures in the marine or that i've never served i see in the marine force. i welcome the return to amphibious city. it is not just the marines. marines are involved in training allies and partners as they see the benefits of having an amphibious capability for their areas. for example, indonesia and all of the islands that comprise the

country. japan and their interest in amphibious warfare and on and on. i am pleased with the work we are doing and especially pleased that the work of the army doing to increase the amphibious capability of our friends and allies partners in the region. >> you have a strategy for closing that gap. they mostly have land-based combat operation. the mac i had a strategy when i was the pacific fleet commander. now i tasked the pacific fleet and the marines verses to come up with the strategy. >> very good. i'm very excited about that. we are getting back to the basics for all of our forces out there. do you agree with the navy marine corps joint force capability with a validated ship requirement of 38? >> i do. before sought century requirement is critical, not just for marines, that the army

as well. >> do you think that will be able to be maintained moving into the future? >> i don't know. i hope so. i hope we will be out to get her amphibious ship of those to that standard. >> thank you, admiral. over the past several weeks, a slightly different topic, but the past couple weeks we have had a number of very distinguished witnesses such as lieutenant general thomas conan, former pacom deputy commander and general carter ham, former commander of for common u.s. army europe and they have spoken very highly of national guard state partnership program. i do believe the program is key in working with our allies and developing our allies and capabilities. but i am concerned because in the pacom or the asia-pacific area, there are very few state

partnership programs out of 70 different unique programs that we have worldwide. i think it is important that we exercise these types of programs and develop relationships with those countries could you speak to that a little bit, sir? >> i can. i'm a huge fan of escape artist at program. general grassley and i've talked about it on my mouse were in an earnings in state partner relationships out there. for the countries in the region, their stay partners, our guard forces are often their principal training relationship. so it is critical for all the reasons you mentioned and general grassley and i are in lockstep on the way forward in the pacific. >> are there certain countries that we should be working more with the state partnership relationship?

>> sure. mark foley comes to mind. we've asked for that. mongolia is a perfect case in point for a country that would benefit greatly from our state partnership program. >> that's very good. many states have developed relationships and sometimes look for second partnerships as well. thank you good general scaparrotti, giovanni thoughts on the state partnership program? >> i'm a big fan of relationships built over time. the trust is important and that is the glue that helps us improve not only the relationship, but the developed capacity within our partners. >> fantastic. thank you so much. >> senator nelson. thank you, mr. chairman. general, when does china north korea's chain?

what is the point at which they really get serious that north korea is getting out of control with the nuclear weapons capability? >> we have been trying to find that out frankly. i think you've underestimated the danger at this point. he is clearly confident in his ability to propagate control of a situation. so i would encourage them to reconsider that at this time, that obviously despite the recent event appeared to be reluctant to take some serious steps which they certainly could. >> well, do they seem to be certainly the one that applied economic pressure and so forth -- i mean, do they fear

the united are reinvented the so much and/or do they fear too many refugees coming in that this nuclear threat is not enough for them to pull that chain? >> well, first they fear instability that would occur that they create along the border and the security of the wmd. north korea not only has nuclear, but probably one of the largest chemical stockpiles in particular, but a bio capability around the world. that is their first concern getting control of that if it were to be an unstable country. secondly, a buffer -- it provides them a buffer and they would fear a unified korea particularly with the u.s. allied that they would be concerned with where forces there's a nation that. >> as you all wargame this, what

is china's position as the young gentleman goes off his rocker and launches an attack against us, and attempted attack because presumably we would have the capability of knocking it down. any wargame like that, what do you expect china's reaction? >> stair, we actually have that as part of our planning. we work on engagement particularly with pacom on a regular basis in order to give us that relationship if and when there is even a provocation today. we may contact to make sure they and their intent. this is my personal opinion. i think china is also looking at

those possibilities in their calculation and probably more inclined lately to interview potential it, at least in the border areas send it and they would be concerned about control of the wmd as well. intervention is more the likelihood of my mind is a few years i've command now that it was two years ago or three. >> it may be one of the areas that china would suddenly see that it got it interest align with the united states. admiral, it is great to see you. mr. chairman is a great product of pensacola, florida. native floridian, you can hear it in the tone of his voice. admiral, share with us your

thought of the importance from a national military to come in the transpacific trade partnership. >> sarah, i'm just going to bass fillet of that is that for a second. transpacific partnership i believe is an important component of the economic part of the rebalance. i've spoken of the rebalance being comprised of the military diplomatic political and economic parts. in the economic sphere, which i've said is the most important component of the rebalance. the most visible peas is the military piece because you can see an aircraft carrier or a joint strike fighter or a stryker vehicle in all of that. the most important part of the rebalance to america is the economic component. in the economic component you

have the energy and you have tpp. i think tpp binds us to 11 other nations that are part of tpp and the standard that it takes for a country to answer tpp as helpful. it is helpful to the global trade peas and helpful to those things we view as an important condition of entry. i think the fact that there are countries buried in mind to figure out how to get in is important as well and indicative of how tpp is viewed now and the pacific. >> senator sullivan. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, gentlemen for your testimony. appreciate the opportunity to get caught up. not only in terms of economics, but energy is produced as yesterday, the united states has united states has an enormous opportunity now in terms of competitive advantages and

energy, alan g, oil exports to our allies and even other countries in the region of some being we need to be taken advantage of. to follow up on the chairman's question on the south china sea, secretary carter was testifying here a few months back what we had done the first ops and i am a big supporter of secretary carter's, but i think there was some concern on the committee that an opportunity to announce in a robust articulate way what we are doing was missed because we literally have to press it out of hand to get any details on what was going on. and so, from your perspective, what exactly is our policy with regard to the south china sea, freedom of navigation operations, what is the purpose? what is the goal and should we

be doing this on a regular basis as the chairman said also with allies? >> tanks, senator. the purpose of freedom of navigation operations and the other operations we do in the south china sea is to exercise our rights on the high seas about that on a break of their bases. >> what is the goal? >> the goal is international rules and norms. this is international airspace airspace -- those rights are routinely exercised by someone, then we stand a chance of advocating rights to someone else. the regular exercise of freedom of navigation is critical and important and it is something we must continue to do. >> we have allies interested in doing that with us for the same

reasons and are we looking to coordinate in terms of operation? >> we have allies that are very supportive of our freedom of navigation operations. there are some of those that are willing to consider doing them with us. but there are others that are unable either because of their own military capability or lack thereof or of their internal politics igad and of their relationship with china. >> you think that would be helpful to have additional allies in the region or maybe some nato partners? >> it would be helpful. i'd encourage other countries to conduct operations in the south china sea. at the end of the day, the south china sea is international waters in my view.

>> we talked about okinawa yesterday. can you give us an update on what more we should be doing for helping allies particularly with regard to japan in terms of marine redeployment? >> we have this relationship in japan with okinawa. we have an obligation to defend japan and they have an obligation to provide us a place for which to defend it. okinawa is one of those critical places where we must be in order to meet our treaty obligations to japan. a few years ago through a lot of increasing tensions over the years, japan asked us to move our forces to someplace else. our response to that is sure. you build a new place and we will move our forces there. that is a simplistic view, but that is how we agreed to move

from fatah led to the replacement facility. in that process, we agreed also to relocate eight to 10,000 on peas, the hawaii peace and part of the marine rotation forces. they have all of that, which is a follow-on once we start moving marine from fatima to the replacement facility. the challenge we have is to get the build and on the replacement facility, which is japan's responsibility, their obligation to live. right now it is flowed. it is about a little over two years late. it was going to be done by 2023 and now we're looking at 2025 before that is done. that is where the big movement

of marines from okay now a to guam and hawaii would take place in the 2020s. i believe we have to continue to defy and operate and continue to work within the japanese as they start to build the replacement facility. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank admiral harris and general scaparrotti for the time you spend with me yesterday. i appreciate that area much for your service and general scaparrotti, our very best wishes to you as you go forward. admiral harris, i am happy to see in your written testimony that you raised the center for strategic studies that pki and the center for excellence, disaster management.

can you talk briefly about the importance and benefit that these two organizations provide to you as a commander of pacom? >> yes, senator. i believe the asia-pacific center is a true force multiplier for my operations in the pacific. pki, is able to bring countries to hawaii that i can go to. relationships enjoy a special ability to link together students from all over the region in very positive ways. and in building those relationships, it helps me in the region and also helps those countries to realize the benefit of a relationship with the united states. so i can't say enough who

commands -- who directs the period i'm pleased to work closely with him in the center and i am pleased to centers in pacom. and so too, the center for excellence in disaster management, i think that venture has the capability and the potential to be a true storehouse of knowledge and lessons learned on how we do disaster management. not only in the region, but that can be shared globally for people who seek the information. >> particularly as we see natural disasters occurring more and more at the center is very important and i have visited the center for strategic studies the number of times. i totally agree with you that it's a really important resource for you as well as our country. i want to turn to the relationship, the trilateral

relationship among japan, u.s. south korea for general scaparrotti of the tensions that you say are higher than other and there are some historical issues between japan and south korea that make the relationship between these two countries particularly challenging. from their is, how do you see this relationship currently moving forward and perhaps but the tensions between south and north korea now, perhaps south korea will pay more -- will be moving more close way to japan. how do you see this developing? ..

as well as pressures from north korea. i think both encouraged them to increase the trilateral relationship. admiral harris host ad conference with two chairman from each of countries along with again june ford. we have a -- again dunford. we have a greater exercises and encouraging environment for increasing information flow between the three countries. >> thank you. this is for admiral harris.

the actions of north korea have been particularly troubling and especially with their so-called hydrogen bomb test and do you see north korea as nuclear state and what does it mean for the u.s. and the u.n.? >> they clearly have some nuclear capabilities. i'm not convinced that the bomb that went off was a hydrogen bomb but they clearly have some degree of nuclear capability. they pose a distinct and real threat not only to peace and stability on the korean peninsula but globally. as they develop the nuclear capability and, as i have said before, they're on a quest for nuclear weapons, means of minute rising them and means of delivering them

intercontinentally they pose a threat to the west coast of the united states and soon to the entire u.s. they pose a threat today where there are hundreds of thousands of rockets, within rocket range of seoul to the 28,500 american troops that are posted there, their families, hundreds of thousands of americans who work in korea and our korean ally and japan. so they are a real threat today and i encourage china, for example, to be helpful and to try to bring north korea to the negotiating table and to do the right thing. >> well, our best wishes on your continuing efforts on that score because i know it is quite the challenge to have china step up and deal with north korea in a way that would be helpful to stablizing that region. thank you very much.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. admiral, first of all let me just say how much i appreciated the opportunity to visit with you at the pacccom headquarters. your message was striking and at same time i came away puzzled with one part. we're working on issues with rebalance strategy since 2011. the rebalance, a strategic whole of government effort, guides and reinforces our economic and political initiatives. in august of 2015 secretary of defense carter described four elements of the military component of the asia-pacific rebalance. do you have, have you seen a doctrine that you put your strategy around which is the rebalance? or is it a series of concepts that are still being developed? >> i believe that we have a strategy now. east asia military strategy put

out by osd last december, november, december, and i think it captures it well. there are probably other things that will come out on that, but i'm satisfied in reading the east asia military strategy piece. the asia-pacific strategy piece, rather, that it's captured in there. i think all the elements i spoke about earlier of the rebalance are in play in the asia-pacific region. in the diplomatic spheres we have edac, enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the philippines which gives us access to their bases. we have new defense guidelines with japan a follow-on to their peace and security legislation which allows them some limited collective self-defense which moves that relationship forward. we have access agreements with

singapore which allows us to put our lcs, littoral combat ships there, and p-3 aircraft there on routine basis. of course all the agreements we have with australia with is the cornerstone of the murhd deployment, i'm pleased with the initiatives which are in the diplomatic political sphere part of the rebalance. the military piece is, you know, as i said the most visible piece. you can see that. then we have economic piece which is the most important parts to the united states in my opinion. >> in your rester with regards to a-2 there seems to be considerable movement and quick movement on part of china this area. do you have the appropriate intelligence-gathering information, that are appropriate. do you need more tools than you have right now? >> i could always use more tools, senator. i would like to know more about

china's intent but in that regard what i need more than anything else is persistent isr to, to keep that never-blinking eye on korea. >> specific platforms that are not available to you now you need? >> there are platforms available now that i have asked for. >> okay. they're coming? >> it's being considered. i mean it is part of the global allocation of forces. so i compete with platforms along with central command, ucom, european command and the like. >> in their current posture chinese put us in position moving us in terms of our safety zones farther out, father away. the rs being proposed right now. is the lrsb an asset you would consider critical with regards to our future capabilities in the south china area?

seeing as how they could be deployed out of north america. they basically, would be in a position to make strikes necessary at that time perhaps some of our other carrier based units may not be able to maintain just based on size and capability. >> senator, i don't know the acronym? >> long-range strike bomber. >> yes, it would be helpful, as i mentioned before, and in talking about the next generation bomber, all that capability is important. not only the next generation bomber but the next generation ssbn and, we need those to maintain our position of strength into the 2020s. >> mr. chairman, thank you. >> on behalf of chairman mccain, senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. admiral harris, i'm so glad to hear someone in your position

who doesn't know one of the acronyms that's being used. makes me feel so much better. >> acronyms kill, ma'am. >> yes, they do. that was very good pun. i want to thank you both for your service and, i want to start, i'm not sure i assume, it should be with you admiral harris. there was a report just given to congress this week that suggests that chinese investments in the national security sector in the united states are growing. is there any reason why we should be concerned about that? >> sure. i think that, depending on the area that they invest in, there's every reason to be concerned. and we need to look at each one of these investments carefully. we have a process called sifii

u.s. another acronym i couldn't tell you what it is. >> that one i know. >> mechanism to prevent china from investing in certain areas. i have used it before when i was at pacific fleet to prevent the purchase of some facilities which were near our key military facilities. >> and so, does the economic reliance on china by some of our american allies create complications for our security strategy as we, as we are thinking about chinese investments in our national security sector and what is happening with some of our allies with respect to their reliance what is happening in the chinese economy? >> clearly, senator, it does. china is the principle trading partner of many of our friends, allies and partners, not only in

the indo-asia-pacific but globally. so that's a factor that each country has to make and it's a factor how we regard their reliability in certain cases. so, i tell folks, i'm often asked, well, you know, we have this size of the chinese military and we have this size of the u.s. military west of the dateline, but surely, if you add it to that, all of our capability, resident in our friends, allies and partners that it would match the chinese in terms of numbers. you can't always count on that in every case because each country will make their independent sovereign decision on whether to participate in a given operation or whatever. and, and so, china's investment in those countries and those countries trade relationships

with china is important. it matters. just as it matters to us. >> thank you. general scaparrotti, in your testimony you mentioned north korea's recent actions that will suggest it will do whatever it wants to defy u.n. security council resolutions and other norms. to what extent does the last couple of weeks ago we passed additional sanctions on north korea here. to what extent does those help or hurt as we try to influence north korea's actions? >> senator, thank you, i appreciate the action congress took here in terms of sanctions because i do believe they have an impact. we know we slowed his capability to develop his munitions, missiles, et cetera. he is some what cash-strapped. i think additional sanctions, there are areas that we have not taken that we haven't, steps we ve